Eileen Bell held the office of Speaker in the Assembly established under the Northern Ireland Act 2006 which met between May and October 2006 and in the Transitional Assembly established under the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 which met between November 2006 and May 2007. Under the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 she was appointed Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 May 2007.

During the first meeting of a new Assembly a Speaker is elected, the oldest (by age) Member of the Assembly (see Father of the House) who is not seeking the appointment oversees the election as Acting Speaker. Nominees are then put forward, seconded and accepted by the nominee. A vote is then taken which must achieve the support of both sides of the house (cross-community support). A successful nominee is then deemed elected as Speaker and takes the chair. Upon election the Speaker must relinquish all party political affiliations, the newly or re-elected speaker then oversees the selection of three Deputy Speakers.

1.
Northern Ireland Assembly
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The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sits at Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast, the Assembly is one of two mutually inter-dependent institutions created under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the other being the North/South Ministerial Council with the Republic of Ireland. The Agreement aimed at bringing an end to Northern Irelands violent 30-year Troubles, the Assembly is a unicameral, democratically elected body comprising 90 members known as Members of the Legislative Assembly, or MLAs. Members are elected under the single transferable vote form of proportional representation, the Assembly has been suspended on several occasions, the longest suspension being from 14 October 2002 until 7 May 2007. When the Assembly was suspended, its powers reverted to the Northern Ireland Office, powers in relation to policing and justice were transferred to the Assembly on 12 April 2010. The third assembly was dissolved on 24 March 2011 in preparation for the elections to be held on Thursday 5 May 2011 and this was the first assembly since the Good Friday Agreement to complete a full term. This was followed by a fourth term. After the May 2016 elections, the Assembly convened for a fifth term and that assembly dissolved on 26 January 2017, and a fresh election for a reduced Assembly was held on 2 March 2017. The Parliament was suspended on 30 March 1972 and formally abolished in 1973 under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973, shortly after this first parliament was abolished, attempts began to restore devolution on a new basis that would see power shared between Irish nationalists and unionists. To this end a new parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, was established in 1973, however, this body was brought down by the Ulster Workers Council strike and was abolished in 1974. It received little support from Irish nationalists and was dissolved in 1986. The current incarnation of the Northern Ireland Assembly was first elected on 25 June 1998, however, it only existed in shadow form until 2 December 1999 when full powers were devolved to the Assembly. On 8 December 2005, three Belfast men at the centre of the alleged IRA spying incident were acquitted of all charges, the prosecution offered no evidence in the public interest. Afterwards Denis Donaldson, one of those arrested, said that the charges should never have been brought as the action was political. On 17 December 2005, Donaldson publicly confirmed that he had been a spy for British intelligence since the early 1980s, mr Donaldson was killed on 4 April 2006 by the Real IRA. Eileen Bell was appointed by the Secretary of State Peter Hain to be the Speaker of the Assembly, with Francie Molloy, the Northern Ireland Act 2006 repealed the Northern Ireland Act 2006 and thus disbanded the Assembly. The Northern Ireland Act 2006 provided for a Transitional Assembly to take part in preparations for the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland, a person who was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly was also a member of the Transitional Assembly

2.
Term of office
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A term of office is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject to re-election. Some jurisdictions exercise term limits, setting a number of terms an individual may hold in a particular office. Being the origin of the Westminster system, aspects of the United Kingdoms system of government are replicated in other countries. The monarch serves as head of state until his or her death or abdication, in the United Kingdom Members of Parliament in the House of Commons are elected for the duration of the parliament. Following dissolution of the Parliament, an election is held which consists of simultaneous elections for all seats. For most MPs this means that their terms of office are identical to the duration of the Parliament, an MP elected in a by-election mid-way through a Parliament, regardless of how long they have occupied the seat, is not exempt from facing re-election at the next general election. The Septennial Act 1715 provided that a Parliament expired seven years after it had been summoned, prior to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 parliaments had no minimum duration. Parliaments could be dissolved early by the monarch at the Prime Ministers request, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 mandated that Parliaments should last their full five years. Early dissolution is possible, but under much more limited circumstances. Hereditary peers and life peers retain membership of the House of Lords for life, Lords Spiritual hold membership of the House of Lords until the end of their time as bishops, though a senior bishop may be made a life peer upon the end of their bishopric. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are variations on the system of government used at Westminster, the office of the leader of the devolved administrations has no numeric term limit imposed upon it. However, in the case of the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government there are fixed terms for which the legislatures can sit and this is imposed at four years. Elections may be held before this time but only if no administration can be formed, offices of local government other regional elected officials follow similar rules to the national offices discussed above, with persons elected to fixed terms of a few years. Federal judges have different terms in office, however, the majority of the federal judiciary, Article III judges, such as those of the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and federal district courts, serve for life. The terms of office for officials in state governments according to the provisions of state constitutions. The term for state governors is four years in all states but Vermont and New Hampshire, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in January 2007 that among state legislatures,44 states had terms of office for the lower house of the state legislature at two years. Five had terms of office at four years,37 states had terms of office for the upper house of the state legislature at four years

3.
John Alderdice, Baron Alderdice
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John Thomas Alderdice, Baron Alderdice is a Northern Ireland politician. He was Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1998–2004, leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland 1987–1998, Alderdice was born to the Rev. David Alderdice and Annie Margaret Helena Shields. He was educated at Ballymena Academy and the Queens University of Belfast where he studied medicine, in 1977, he married Joan Hill, with whom he has two sons and one daughter. He worked part-time as a consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy in the NHS from 1988 until he retired from practice in 2010. He also lectured at Queens Universitys Faculty of Medicine between 1991 and 1999, Alderdice claims a distant relationship to John King, a nineteenth century Australian explorer and the sole survivor of the Burke and Wills expedition. The Alliance Party was formed in 1970 as an alternative to sectarian politics, throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Alliances vote across Northern Ireland stabilised at between 6% and 8%. Alderdice once again contested Belfast East in the 1992 general election and he led the Alliance Delegation to the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation at Dublin Castle and the Northern Ireland Multiparty Talks, and was a member of the Northern Ireland Forum. Alderdice was willing to talk with Sinn Féin, after the IRA called a ceasefire in 1994 and he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast East in 1998 and became the Assemblys first speaker, serving until 2004. Mo Mowlam said that Alderdices political and parliamentary experience mean that he is suited to carry out this role. Alderdice was a Belfast City Councillor from 1989 until 1997 and he resigned as party leader in 1998 to take the position of Speaker. He was a member of the Independent Monitoring Commission from 2004 to 2011, Alderdice was created a life peer on 8 October 1996 as Baron Alderdice, of Knock in the City of Belfast, and was one of the youngest ever life peers. He sits in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat, on 10 June 2010, he was elected to the new position of Convenor of the Liberal Democrat Peers, a role in which he chairs the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party in the House of Lords. He was elected President of Liberal International in 2005 and served until Liberal Internationals Cairo congress in 2009 and he was succeeded by Dutch politician Hans van Baalen. Alderdice has been awarded several honours, the John F Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award in 1998 and he is an elder in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

4.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule

5.
Politics of Northern Ireland
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Since 1998, Northern Ireland has devolved government within the United Kingdom. The government and Parliament of the United Kingdom are responsible for reserved and excepted matters, reserved matters are a list of policy area, which the Westminster Parliament may devolve to the Northern Ireland Assembly at some time in future. Excepted matters are never expected to be considered for devolution, on all other matters, the Northern Ireland Executive together with the 108-member Northern Ireland Assembly may legislate and govern for Northern Ireland. Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly are by single transferable vote with five elected from 18 parliamentary constituencies. Eighteen representatives to the house of the British parliament are elected from the same constituencies using the first-past-the-post system. However, not all of these take their seats, the four Sinn Féin MPs refuse to take the required oath to serve Queen Elizabeth II. In addition, the house of the UKs parliament, the House of Lords. Northern Ireland itself forms a constituency for elections to the European Union. The Northern Ireland Office represents the British government in Northern Ireland on reserved matters, the Government of the Republic of Ireland also has the right to put forward views and proposals on non-devolved matters in relation to Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Office is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, much of the population of Northern Ireland identifies with one of two different ideologies, unionism and Irish nationalism. Unionists are predominantly Ulster Protestant, most of whom belong to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, however, not all Catholics support nationalism, and not all Protestants support unionism. The proportion of the population practising their religious beliefs has fallen dramatically in recent decades, particularly among Catholics and this has not resulted in a weakening of communal feeling. Northern Ireland currently has the political representation, the Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 Members of the Legislative Assembly. 18 seats in the United Kingdom House of Commons there are several unionists and it has also demanded that all Northern Ireland Members of the European Parliament and MPs be allowed speaking rights in the lower house of the parliament of the Republic of Ireland, Dáil Éireann. It was given to understand that the Irish government accepted this and had plans to introduce legislation in the autumn of 2005, the Social Democratic and Labour Party backed the move. Nonetheless on 22 November 2007, representatives from both Sinn Féin and the SDLP, attended a meeting of the Oireachtas committee reviewing the workings of the Good Friday Agreement. The 18 Northern Ireland MPs can take part in this committees debates, until 1972 the UUPs members of the British House of Commons took the Conservative Party whip, but currently sit as a party in their own right. The UUPs member of the European Parliament belongs to the European Conservatives, the DUP are a more complex mixture than the other major parties, combining support from rural evangelicals and urban, secular, working class voters

6.
Northern Ireland Executive
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The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the Assembly and was established according to the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the executive is referred to in the legislation as the Executive Committee of the Assembly and is an example of a consociationalist government. The Northern Ireland Executive consists of the First Minister and deputy First Minister and various ministers with individual portfolios, the main Assembly parties appoint most ministers in the executive, except for the Minister of Justice who is elected by a cross-community vote. It is one of three devolved governments in the United Kingdom, the others being the Scottish and Welsh Governments, with the exception of justice, the number of ministries to which each party is entitled is determined by the DHondt system. In effect, major parties cannot be excluded from participation in government, the form of government is therefore known as mandatory coalition as opposed to voluntary coalition where parties negotiate an agreement to share power. The Executive cannot function if either of the two largest parties refuse to part, as these parties are allocated the First Minister. However, other parties are not required to enter the Executive even if they are entitled to do so, instead, devolution took place on 12 April 2010. Under DHondt, the SDLP would have been entitled to the ministerial seat on the revised Executive created by the devolution of policing. Accordingly, both the UUP and SDLP protested that Alliance was not entitled, under the rules of the Good Friday Agreement, to fill the portfolio, however, Alliance leader David Ford was elected Minister with the support of the DUP and Sinn Féin. On 26 August 2015, the UUP announced it would withdraw from the Executive and form an opposition after all, on 25 May 2016 a new executive was announced. For the first time in the history, parties that were entitled to ministries chose instead to go into opposition following a recent bill providing parties with this choice. This meant that the executive was formed only by the two parties, the DUP and Sinn Féin, and thus giving them more seats in the Executive. The Executive is co-chaired by the First Minister and deputy First Minister, Executive meetings are normally held fortnightly, compared to weekly meetings of the British Cabinet and Irish Government. The Ministerial Code allows any three ministers to request a cross-community vote, the quorum for voting is seven ministers. At present, the Executive consists of six unionist, five nationalist, the current system of devolution has succeeded long periods of direct rule, when the Northern Ireland Civil Service had a considerable influence on government policy. The legislation which established new departments in 1999 affirmed that the functions of a department shall at all times be exercised subject to the direction, Ministerial powers can be conferred by an Act of the Assembly and ministers can also exercise executive powers which are vested in the Crown. Ministerial decisions can be challenged by a petition of 30 Northern Ireland Assembly members and this action can be taken for alleged breaches of the Ministerial Code and on matters of public importance. The Speaker of the Assembly must consult political party leaders in the Assembly before deciding whether the subject is a matter of public importance, successful petitions will then be considered by the Executive

7.
First Minister and deputy First Minister
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The First Minister and deputy First Minister are the joint heads of the Northern Ireland Executive and have overall responsibility for the running of the Executive Office. The two positions have the same power, despite the name, the deputy First Minister is not subordinate to the First Minister. The First Minister and deputy First Minister share equal responsibilities within government, the First Minister is, though, the first to greet official visitors to Northern Ireland and shares the same title as their counterparts in Scotland and Wales. The First Minister and deputy First Minister agree the agenda of Executive meetings and they are jointly accountable to the First Minister and deputy First Minister. The incumbent junior ministers are Jonathan Bell and Jennifer McCann, as originally established under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the First Minister was elected by the Assembly on a joint ticket with the deputy First Minister through a cross-community vote. It was created to enable the leaders of the main unionist and nationalist parties to work together, for the purposes of a cross-community vote, MLAs were designated as unionist, nationalist or other. This procedure was used on 2 December 1999 to elect David Trimble, following several suspensions of the Northern Ireland Executive, Trimble was not re-elected on 2 November 2001 due to unionist opposition. This procedure, which removed the need for a joint ticket between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, was used to appoint Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness on 8 May 2007. It was again used to appoint Peter Robinson alongside Martin McGuinness on 5 June 2008 and again on 12 May 2011, the Minister of Justice is now the only Northern Ireland Executive Minister elected on a cross-community vote. All other ministers are party appointees, the second position has been spelt Deputy or deputy First Minister, due to differing preferences by civil servants, although the spelling of the title has no constitutional consequences in practice. The first two holders of the office, Seamus Mallon and Mark Durkan, were referred to during their periods of office as Deputy First Minister, with a capital D. This version was adopted in 1999 for the logo of the OFMDFM. Speaker William Hay ordered the change and the capital D was dropped from Hansard references, however, the Assembly committee that scrutinises their work is now listed as the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. Ultimately it was decided that McGuinness should be the deputy First Minister, on 1 July 1998, David Trimble and Seamus Mallon were nominated and elected First Minister and Deputy First Minister designates respectively. Eventually, on 2 December 1999, power was devolved and Trimble, on 6 November 2001, Mark Durkan became Deputy First Minister after Seamus Mallons retirement. The Executive and the two positions were suspended between 15 October 2002 and 8 May 2007 following a breakdown in trust between the parties, Paisley announced his intention to resign on 4 March 2008. His deputy as DUP leader, Peter Robinson was ratified as Democratic Unionist Party leader designate on 17 April 2008, as leader-designate of the largest designated unionist party in the Northern Ireland Assembly he was also in effect the First Minister designate and became First Minister on 5 June 2008. Arlene Foster succeeded Peter Robinson as DUP leader on 18 December 2015, and as First Minister on 11 January 2016

8.
Northern Ireland Civil Service
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The Northern Ireland Civil Service, is the permanent bureaucracy of employees that supports the Northern Ireland Executive, the devolved government of Northern Ireland. The NICS is one of three services in the United Kingdom, the others being the Home Civil Service and HM Diplomatic Service. The heads of these services are members of the Permanent Secretaries Management Group, Northern Ireland was established by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and the first devolved Parliament of Northern Ireland took office on 7 June 1921. In 1965, that department was split between the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the new Ministry of Development, a further Ministry of Community Relations was established in 1969, in response to the early stages of the Troubles. The Parliament of Northern Ireland was dissolved on 30 March 1972, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland assumed responsibility for government and was assisted by a new Northern Ireland Office. The NIO absorbed the Ministry of Home Affairs and took responsibility for security, justice. Following the Sunningdale Agreement, a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive briefly held office between 1 January 1974 and 28 May 1974, the Troubles continued in the absence of a political settlement. Between May 1974 and December 1999, departments were led politically by junior ministers in the Northern Ireland Office, UK Governments alternated between the Conservative and Labour parties, neither of which included members of parliament from Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Civil Service, uniquely in the British Isles, the Executive was suspended several times due to political disputes and each suspension resulted in the return of direct rule. Devolution was restored on 8 May 2007 and has continued without interruption since then, devolution resulted in an increase in the number of Civil Service departments, accountable to a cross-community Executive of 11 ministers. The Northern Ireland Office continues in operation, representing the interests of the United Kingdom Government in Northern Ireland, following the Fresh Start Agreement, the parties of Northern Ireland agreed that the number of Executive departments should be reduced. The public sector constituted 31. 3% of the regions workforce, the PSMG is in charge of both the Northern Ireland Civil Service and Her Majestys Civil Service. The group is chaired by Head of the Home Civil Service, the Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, the group also consists of all first permanent secretaries and other selected permanent secretaries and directors general. The Civil Service Commissioners for Northern Ireland are not civil servants and are independent of the Executive and their main functions are the same as the Civil Service Commissioners of Her Majestys Home Civil Service

9.
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
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The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the supreme court in all matters under English and Welsh law, Northern Ireland law and Scottish civil law. It is the court of last resort and the highest appellate court in the United Kingdom, the Supreme Court was established by Part 3 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and started work on 1 October 2009. Its jurisdiction over devolution matters had previously exercised by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Because of the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, the Supreme Court is much more limited in its powers of review than the constitutional or supreme courts of some other countries. It cannot overturn any primary legislation made by Parliament, however, it can overturn secondary legislation if, for example, that legislation is found to be ultra vires to the powers in primary legislation allowing it to be made. Such a declaration can apply to primary or secondary legislation, the legislation is not overturned by the declaration, and neither Parliament nor the government is required to agree with any such declaration. The current President of the Supreme Court is Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, the Supreme Courts focus is on cases that raise points of law of general public importance. The Supreme Court also determines devolution issues, ordinarily, all twelve justices do not all hear every case. Typically a case is heard by a panel of five justices, the justices are also members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and spend some of their time in that capacity. The creation of a Supreme Court for the United Kingdom was first mooted in a paper published by the Department of Constitutional Affairs in July 2003. Space within the House of Lords was at a constant premium, the main argument against a new Supreme Court was that the previous system had worked well and kept costs down. Reformers expressed concern that this second main example of a mixture of the legislative, judicial, officials who make or execute laws have an interest in court cases that put those laws to the test. When the state invests judicial authority in those officials or even their colleagues, it puts the independence. Lord Phillips said such an outcome was a possibility, but was unlikely, the reforms were controversial and were brought forward with little consultation but were subsequently extensively debated in Parliament. During 2004, a committee of the House of Lords scrutinised the arguments for. The Government estimated the set-up cost of the Supreme Court at £56.9 million, the Supreme Court was established by Part 3 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and started work on 1 October 2009. Its jurisdiction over devolution matters had previously held by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The first case heard by the Supreme Court was HM Treasury v Ahmed, at issue was the extent to which Parliament has, by the United Nations Act 1946, delegated to the executive the power to legislate

10.
Courts of Northern Ireland
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The courts of Northern Ireland are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in Northern Ireland, they are constituted and governed by Northern Ireland law. The United Kingdom does not have a unified judicial system, England and Wales have one system, Scotland another. Additionally, the Military Court Service has jurisdiction over all members of the forces of the United Kingdom in relation to offences against military law. Diplock courts are common in Northern Ireland for crimes connected to terrorism, administration of the courts is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was created by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and it took its duties up on 1 October 2009. It is the highest court of appeal in Northern Ireland, hearing appeals from all the courts of the United Kingdom. The Supreme Court has taken over the appellate jurisdiction formerly vested in the House of Lords, the Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland is constituted by the Judicature Act 1978. Until 1 October 2009 its name was the Supreme Court of Judicature, the Court of Judicature is the most important superior court of Northern Ireland. The Court of Appeal is the highest court specifically of Northern Ireland, Appeal from the Court of Appeal lies to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Court of Appeal hears appeals from the Crown Court, High Court, county courts, courts of summary jurisdiction, the High Court of Justice is, like its English equivalent, split into three divisions, Queens Bench Division, Family Division and Chancery Division. The High Court is located in the Royal Courts of Justice, the Crown Courts hear more serious criminal cases. These are indictable offences and either way offences which are committed for trial in the Crown Courts rather than the magistrates courts, the County Courts are the main civil courts. While higher-value cases are heard in the High Court, the County Courts hear a range of civil actions, consumer claims. The County Courts are called Family Care Centres when hearing proceedings brought under the Children Order 1995, there are seven County Court divisions in Northern Ireland. Below the High Court are several classes of courts, magistrates courts hear less-serious criminal cases and conduct preliminary hearings in more serious criminal cases. They are divided into 21 petty sessions districts, the Crown Court hears all serious criminal cases which are committed to trial. When sitting as family proceedings courts the magistrates courts hear proceedings brought under the Children Order 1995, additionally, there is the Enforcement of Judgments Office, and coroners courts, which investigate the circumstances of sudden, violent or unnatural deaths

11.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government

12.
Government of the United Kingdom
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Her Majestys Government, commonly referred to as the UK government or British government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the Prime Minister, who all the remaining ministers. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, the government ministers all sit in Parliament, and are accountable to it. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice of, the prime minister, the Cabinet members advise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. They also exercise power directly as leaders of the Government Departments, the current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the election on 7 May 2015. Prior to this, Cameron and the Conservatives led a government from 2010 to 2015 with the Liberal Democrats. A key principle of the British Constitution is that the government is responsible to Parliament, Britain is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the government and Parliament and this constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215. Parliament is split into two houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the House of Commons is the lower house and is the more powerful. The House of Lords is the house and although it can vote to amend proposed laws. Parliamentary time is essential for bills to be passed into law, Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit, they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords, since the start of Edward VIIs reign, in 1901, the prime minister has always been an elected member of Parliament and therefore directly accountable to the House of Commons. Under the British system the government is required by convention and for reasons to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons. It requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply, by convention if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held. The support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay, is not vital, a government is not required to resign even if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House. The House of Commons is thus the Responsible house, the prime minister is held to account during Prime Ministers Question Time which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject

13.
Northern Ireland Office
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The Northern Ireland Office is a UK government department responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and is based at Stormont House in Belfast and 1 Horse Guards Road in London, before the partition, Ireland was governed through the Dublin Castle administration and the Home Office was also responsible for Irish affairs. From 1924 to 1972, Northern Ireland affairs were handled by the Northern Ireland Department of the Home Office, in August 1969, for example, Home Secretary James Callaghan approved the sending of British Army soldiers to Northern Ireland. As the Troubles worsened, the UK Government was increasingly concerned that the Northern Ireland Government was losing control of the situation, on 24 March 1972, it announced that direct rule from Westminster would be introduced. This took effect on 30 March 1972, the formation of the NIO put Northern Ireland on the same level as Scotland and Wales, where the Scottish Office and Welsh Office were established in 1885 and 1965 respectively. The NIO assumed policing and justice powers from the Ministry of Home Affairs, NIO junior ministers were placed in charge of other Northern Ireland Civil Service departments. Direct rule was seen as a measure, with a power-sharing devolution preferred as the solution. Under the Northern Ireland Act 1972, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland replaced the Governor of Northern Ireland, the Sunningdale Agreement in 1973 resulted in a brief, power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive, which was ended by the Ulster Workers Council strike on 28 May 1974. The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention and Northern Ireland Assembly were unsuccessful in restoring devolved government, after the Anglo-Irish Agreement on 15 November 1985, the UK Government and Irish Government co-operated more closely on security and political matters. Following the Belfast Agreement on 10 April 1998, devolution returned to Northern Ireland on 2 December 1999, the Northern Ireland Executive was suspended on 15 October 2002 and direct rule returned until devolution was restored on 8 May 2007. The Department of Justice is now responsible for those matters and this transfer of power resulted in a smaller Northern Ireland Office, comparable to the Scotland Office and Wales Office. The NIO ministers are as follows, As Attorney General for England and Wales, The Rt Hon. Jeremy Wright MP is Advocate General for Northern Ireland, the NIOs Director General was Sir Julian King KCVO CMG. He was appointed in November 2011 and held the position until 2014 and he chaired the NIO Management Board and is the departments Accounting Officer. Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Northern Ireland Assembly Northern Ireland Executive Department of Justice Northern Ireland Office

14.
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
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The Secretary of State is a Minister of the Crown who is accountable to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is the chief minister in the Northern Ireland Office. As with other ministers, the position is appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, the position is normally described simply as the Secretary of State by residents of Northern Ireland. g. Security, human rights, certain public inquiries and the administration of elections, created in 1972, the position has switched between Members of Parliament from the Conservative Party and Labour Party. This contrasts with the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Secretary of State for Wales, historically, the principal ministers for Irish affairs in the UK Government and its predecessors were, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, and the Home Secretary. In August 1969, for example, Home Secretary James Callaghan approved the sending of British Army soldiers to Northern Ireland, the office of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was created following the suspension, then abolition, of the Northern Ireland Parliament, following widespread civil strife. The UK Government was increasingly concerned that the Northern Ireland Government was losing control of the situation, on 24 March 1972, it announced that direct rule from Westminster would be introduced. This took effect on 30 March 1972, the post effectively filled three roles which existed under the previous Stormont regime, the Governor of Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, and the Minister of Home Affairs. Direct rule was seen as a measure, with a power-sharing devolution preferred as the solution. The Sunningdale Agreement in 1973 resulted in a brief, power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive, from 1 January 1974, the strikers opposed the power-sharing and all-Ireland aspects of the new administration. The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention and Northern Ireland Assembly were unsuccessful in restoring devolved government, after the Anglo-Irish Agreement on 15 November 1985, the UK Government and Irish Government co-operated more closely on security and political matters. Following the Belfast Agreement on 10 April 1998, devolution returned to Northern Ireland on 2 December 1999 and this removed many of the duties of the Secretary of State and his Northern Ireland Office colleagues and devolved them to locally elected politicians, constituting the Northern Ireland Executive. On each of these occasions, the responsibilities of the ministers in the Executive then returned to the Secretary of State and his ministers. During these periods, in addition to administration of the region, power was again devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 May 2007. The Secretary of State retained responsibility for policing and justice until most of powers were devolved on 12 April 2010

15.
James Brokenshire
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James Peter Brokenshire PC MP is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as the Member of Parliament for Hornchurch from 2005 until the abolition under renewed boundaries at the 2010 general election. At this election, he was elected to the seat of Old Bexley and he has previously served as Minister for Security and Immigration at the Home Office. He currently serves as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, Brokenshire studied law at the University of Exeter before beginning work with a large international law firm. Deciding on a career in politics, he stood successfully as the Conservative candidate for the constituency of Hornchurch in the 2005 general election. He was elected MP for the area in 2010, on a campaign devoted to preventing the closure of accident and emergency services at Queen Marys Hospital, Sidcup, in these two positions he oversaw the closure and privatisation of the Forensic Science Service and championed the Modern Slavery Bill. In February 2014, he was appointed Minister for Security and Immigration, in July 2016, under Theresa Mays new cabinet, he was appointed the Northern Ireland Secretary. Brokenshire was born on 8 January 1968, in the town of Southend-on-Sea and he was educated at Davenant Foundation Grammar School in Loughton and then at the Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies. He went on to gain a degree in law at the University of Exeter, Brokenshire subsequently worked as a partner at international law firm Jones Day. In this position, he advised companies, businesses, and financial institutions on company law, mergers, acquisitions and he was first elected at the 2005 general election to the parliamentary constituency of Hornchurch, defeating the Labour candidate and incumbent member John Cryer by 480 votes. The election itself resulted in a third term for Prime Minister Tony Blair. From 2005-06, Brokenshire was a member of the House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, from 2006-10 he then served as the Shadow Minister for Crime Reduction. Brokenshire was aware that his constituency, Hornchurch, was to be dissolved for the next election, in November 2006, he applied for selection as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Witham in Essex, but he was defeated by Priti Patel. He simultaneously campaigned to be selected as Conservative candidate for the constituency of Hornchurch and Upminster and he next stood for Gillingham and Rainham in July 2007, Grantham and Stamford in October 2007, North East Cambridgeshire in January 2008, and Maidstone and The Weald later that same month. He was unsuccessful in all of these attempts and his competitors for the seat were Rebecca Harris, Katie Lindsay, and Julia Manning, and he was successful in gaining the selection for the seat in June 2008. This was the seat he applied to be a candidate for ahead of the 2010 election. As a result, he was accused of being a carpetbagger by a local single issue party. In the May 2010 general election, Brokenshire was elected for Old Bexley and Sidcup with 24,625 votes, beating the Labour candidate Rick Everitt, the hospitals A&E department was closed in November of the same year

16.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
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It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the boroughs of the British capital, the parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house. The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature, prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords. The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster in London, most cabinet ministers are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The UK parliament and its institutions have set the pattern for many throughout the world. However, John Bright – who coined the epithet – used it with reference to a rather than a parliament. In theory, the UKs supreme legislative power is vested in the Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union. The principle of responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century—the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an electoral system. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, many small constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, were controlled by members of the House of Lords, who could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. During the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, No longer dependent on the Lords for their seats, MPs grew more assertive. The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century, in 1909, the Commons passed the so-called Peoples Budget, which made numerous changes to the taxation system which were detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, on the basis of the Budgets popularity and the Lords consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, in the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster

17.
Northern Ireland Grand Committee
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The Northern Ireland Grand Committee is one of four such grand committees in the United Kingdom Parliament. The other three are for Scotland, Wales and, as of October 2015, England, the membership of the committee includes all participating Northern Irish MPs, as well as up to 25 other MPs who are nominated by the Committee of Selection. The purpose of the committee is to read bills that are relevant to Northern Ireland before their second or third readings in Parliament and it also provides an opportunity for MPs to question ministers, debate current matters and for ministers to make statements. There are between three and six committee meetings per year, until recently, unlike its Scottish and Welsh counterparts, the Northern Ireland Grand Committee met at Westminster and never in Northern Ireland. However, the Democratic Unionist Party pressed for a meeting to place in Northern Ireland itself. The government agreed, and in December 2006 the first local meeting of the committee took place in the chamber at Belfast City Hall. The committee met again in Northern Ireland in September 2013, this time in the Senate Chamber at Parliament Buildings, Stormont

18.
European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum

19.
Local government in Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is divided into 11 districts for local government purposes. Their functions include waste and recycling services, leisure and community services, building control and local economic and they are not planning authorities, but are consulted on some planning applications. The collection of rates is handled by the Land and Property Services agency, the current pattern of 11 local government districts was established on 1 April 2015, as a result of the reform process that started in 2005. The system was based on the recommendations of the Macrory Report, of June 1970, from 1921 to 1973, Northern Ireland was divided into six administrative counties and two county boroughs. The counties and county continue to exist for the purposes of lieutenancy. This system, with the abolition of districts, remains the model for local government in the Republic of Ireland. Councillors are elected for a term of office under the single transferable vote system. Elections were last held in May 2014, to qualify for election, a councillor candidate must be, at least 18 years of age, and a Commonwealth of Nations or European Union citizen. The districts are combined for various purposes, in the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, Northern Ireland is divided into five parts at level 3 There were five education and library boards in Northern Ireland. As part of the Review of Public Administration process, the functions of the ELBs were taken over by a new body. The education and skills functions were centralised into a single Education Authority for Northern Ireland in April 2015, the boards were as follows, There were four health and social services boards which were replaced by a single Health and Social Care Board in April 2009. Among its recommendations were a reduction in the number of districts, in 2005 Peter Hain, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced proposals to reduce the number of councils to seven. The names and boundaries of the seven districts were announced in March 2007, in March 2008 the restored Northern Executive agreed to create eleven new councils instead of the original seven. The first elections were due to place in May 2011. However, by May 2010 disagreements among parties in the executive over district boundaries were expected to delay the reforms until 2015, in June 2010 the proposed reforms were abandoned following the failure of the Northern Ireland Executive to reach agreement. However, on 12 March 2012, the Northern Ireland Executive published its programme for government, which included a commitment to reduce the number of councils in Northern Ireland to 11

20.
Administrative divisions of Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is divided into 11 districts for local government purposes. Their functions include waste and recycling services, leisure and community services, building control and local economic and they are not planning authorities, but are consulted on some planning applications. The collection of rates is handled by the Land and Property Services agency, the current pattern of 11 local government districts was established on 1 April 2015, as a result of the reform process that started in 2005. The system was based on the recommendations of the Macrory Report, of June 1970, from 1921 to 1973, Northern Ireland was divided into six administrative counties and two county boroughs. The counties and county continue to exist for the purposes of lieutenancy. This system, with the abolition of districts, remains the model for local government in the Republic of Ireland. Councillors are elected for a term of office under the single transferable vote system. Elections were last held in May 2014, to qualify for election, a councillor candidate must be, at least 18 years of age, and a Commonwealth of Nations or European Union citizen. The districts are combined for various purposes, in the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, Northern Ireland is divided into five parts at level 3 There were five education and library boards in Northern Ireland. As part of the Review of Public Administration process, the functions of the ELBs were taken over by a new body. The education and skills functions were centralised into a single Education Authority for Northern Ireland in April 2015, the boards were as follows, There were four health and social services boards which were replaced by a single Health and Social Care Board in April 2009. Among its recommendations were a reduction in the number of districts, in 2005 Peter Hain, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced proposals to reduce the number of councils to seven. The names and boundaries of the seven districts were announced in March 2007, in March 2008 the restored Northern Executive agreed to create eleven new councils instead of the original seven. The first elections were due to place in May 2011. However, by May 2010 disagreements among parties in the executive over district boundaries were expected to delay the reforms until 2015, in June 2010 the proposed reforms were abandoned following the failure of the Northern Ireland Executive to reach agreement. However, on 12 March 2012, the Northern Ireland Executive published its programme for government, which included a commitment to reduce the number of councils in Northern Ireland to 11

21.
Counties of Northern Ireland
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In total Northern Ireland consisted of six counties, Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone. These form two-thirds of the province of Ulster. The number has been used in the designation The Six Counties as an Irish-nationalist alternative name for Northern Ireland, the English administration in Ireland in the years following the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland created counties as the major subdivisions of an Irish province. Though the present-day counties of Northern Ireland were planned in the early 16th century, each county would have an associated county town, with county courts of Quarter Sessions and Assizes. The counties of Antrim and Down have their origins in the Norman Earldom of Ulster which was based on John de Courcys conquest of Ulaid. Between the late 13th and early 14th centuries it was organised into shires based around centres of Norman power such as Antrim, Carrickfergus. The Bruce invasion saw the devastation of the Earldom of Ulster and it was not until the reign of Queen Elizabeth I that Ulster would be shired into more counties, based largely on the boundaries of existing lordships. In 1584, Lord Deputy of Ireland Sir John Perrott created the counties in what is now Northern Ireland, Armagh, Coleraine, Fermanagh. Carrickfergus would retain its status as a county town until 1777 when it was merged with County Antrim, each county was divided into a number of baronies, a midway between a county and a parish. Baronies are now administrative units, partially derived from the territory of an Irish chieftain. The Grand Jury representment system would also be based on the barony, the counties were also used as the administrative unit of local government introduced in Ireland under the 1898 Local Government Act along with county boroughs. In regards to Northern Ireland the cities of Belfast and Londonderry became county boroughs, the counties and county boroughs in terms of governance where abolished in Northern Ireland in 1972 and replaced with twenty-six unitary councils, many of which cross county boundaries. The six administrative counties and two county boroughs remain in use for some purposes, including car number plates, the six counties were also used as postal counties by the Royal Mail for sorting purposes until their abolition in 1996. Outside government, the counties are used for cultural purposes. Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland is divided into lieutenancy areas and these are areas that have an appointed Lord Lieutenant—the representative of the British monarch. Northern Ireland has eight areas, Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone, County of Londonderry, City of Londonderry. These are contiguous with the six counties and two county boroughs, established by the 1898 Local Government Act. Carrickfergus was formerly a county of itself, it extended further than the borough of Carrickfergus

22.
Speaker (politics)
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The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer. The title was first used in 1399 in England, the speakers official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the powers to members who break the procedures of the chamber or house. The speaker often also represents the body in person, as the voice of the body in ceremonial, the title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerford in the Parliament of England. By convention, speakers are normally addressed in Parliament as Mister Speaker, if a man, or Madam Speaker, in other cultures other styles are used, mainly being equivalents of English chairman or president. Many bodies also have a pro tempore, designated to fill in when the speaker is not available. The Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives is the officer of the Australian House of Representatives. The President of the Australian Senate is the officer of the Australian Senate. Now constitutional community highlights changes also in this role, in Canada, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the individual elected to preside over the House of Commons, the elected lower house. The speaker is a Member of Parliament and is elected at the beginning of new parliament by fellow MPs. The Speakers role in presiding over Canadas House of Commons is similar to that of speakers elsewhere in countries that use the Westminster system. The Speaker does not vote except in the case of a tie, by convention, if required to vote, the Speaker will vote in favour of continuing debate on a matter, but will not ultimately vote for a measure to be approved. The Speaker of the Senate of Canada is the officer of the Senate of Canada. The Speaker represents the Senate at official functions, rules on questions of procedure and parliamentary privilege. The Speaker of the Senate is appointed by the Governor General of Canada from amongst sitting senators upon the advice of the Prime Minister, the Speaker has a vote on all matters. In the event of a tie, the matter fails, at the provincial level, the presiding officer of the provincial legislatures is called the Speaker in all provinces except Quebec, where the term President is used. The presiding officer fulfills the role as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the elected to preside over the elected House of Commons

23.
Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)
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Parliament Buildings, commonly known as Stormont because of its location in the Stormont Estate area of Belfast, is the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly. It previously housed the defunct Parliament of Northern Ireland, the need for a separate parliament building for Northern Ireland emerged with the creation of the Northern Ireland Home Rule region within Ulster in the Government of Ireland Act 1920. In 1922, preparatory work on the site, east of Belfast. Alongside the parliament and Ministerial Building the site would have been host to the Northern Ireland High Court, the plans were scrapped following the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and its knock-on effect on the economy of the United Kingdom. Instead, a smaller building, designed by Sir Arnold Thornely in the Greek classical style. It was built by Stewart & Partners and opened by Edward, Prince of Wales, Stormont Castle served as the official residence of the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and was the meeting place for the Northern Ireland cabinet. Another residence, Stormont House, served as the residence of the Speaker of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland. In the main hall, originally called the Central Hall but now known as the Great Hall and it was a gift from King George V and had originally hung in Windsor Castle, where it had been a gift from German Kaiser Wilhelm II. The Kaisers chandelier had been removed from Windsor and placed in storage during World War I and it was never hung in Windsor again. The painting The Entry of King William into Ireland, a gift from the Dutch Government to its Northern Ireland counterpart, was hung in the House of Commons when it opened. However, it was removed after having been defaced by a Scottish preacher, the reason for his anger was that the painting also showed the Pope, who had blessed Williams enterprise. The building itself changed little over the years, even as the parliaments meeting inside it did, to camouflage it during World War II, the buildings Portland stone was painted with supposedly removable paint made of bitumen and cow manure. However, after the war, removing the paint proved an enormous difficulty and it took seven years to remove the paint, and the exterior façade has never regained its original white colour. While most traces of it were removed from the façades, some of the remains of the paint survive in the inner courtyards, craigavon and his wife are buried in the estate grounds. The building was used for the Parliament of Northern Ireland until it was prorogued in 1972, the Senate chamber was used by the Royal Air Force as an operations room during World War II. The building was used for the short-lived Sunningdale power-sharing executive in 1974, between 1973 and 1998, it served as the headquarters of the Northern Ireland Civil Service. Between 1982 and 1986, it served as the seat of the rolling-devolution assembly and it is now the home of the Northern Ireland Assembly. However, no one supported the demand and the new assembly

24.
Stormont Estate
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The Stormont Estate is an estate east of Belfast in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the site of Northern Irelands main government buildings, which are surrounded by woods, lying within the townland of Ballymiscaw, Stormont was originally the estate of a Rev. John Cleland. It was named after a district in Perthshire and comes from the Gaelic Stoirmhonadh, Stormont Estate is now home to the Stormont Parkrun, a free, weekly,5 kilometres timed run. The regulations governing the use of the Stormont estate are displayed at its entrance and these were initially enacted on 31 October 1933, in an order by the Ministry of Finance

25.
Belfast
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Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, the second largest on the island of Ireland, and the heart of the tenth largest Primary Urban Area in the United Kingdom. On the River Lagan, it had a population of 286,000 at the 2011 census and 333,871 after the 2015 council reform, Belfast was granted city status in 1888. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was an industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century. It has sustained a major aerospace and missiles industry since the mid 1930s, industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast Irelands biggest city at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education, business, and law, additionally, Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, notably around Victoria Square. Belfast is served by two airports, George Best Belfast City Airport in the city, and Belfast International Airport 15 miles west of the city. Although the county borough of Belfast was created when it was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888, the site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giants Ring, a 5, 000-year-old henge, is located near the city, Belfast remained a small settlement of little importance during the Middle Ages. The ONeill clan had a presence in the area, in the 14th century, Cloinne Aodha Buidhe, descendants of Aodh Buidhe ONeill built Grey Castle at Castlereagh, now in the east of the city. Conn ONeill of the Clannaboy ONeills owned vast lands in the area and was the last inhabitant of Grey Castle, evidence of this period of Belfasts growth can still be seen in the oldest areas of the city, known as the Entries. Belfast blossomed as a commercial and industrial centre in the 18th and 19th centuries, industries thrived, including linen, rope-making, tobacco, heavy engineering and shipbuilding, and at the end of the 19th century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the largest city in Ireland. The Harland and Wolff shipyards became one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, in 1886 the city suffered intense riots over the issue of home rule, which had divided the city. In 1920–22, Belfast became the capital of the new entity of Northern Ireland as the island of Ireland was partitioned, the accompanying conflict cost up to 500 lives in Belfast, the bloodiest sectarian strife in the city until the Troubles of the late 1960s onwards. Belfast was heavily bombed during World War II, in one raid, in 1941, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless. Apart from London, this was the greatest loss of life in a raid during the Blitz. Belfast has been the capital of Northern Ireland since its establishment in 1921 following the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and it had been the scene of various episodes of sectarian conflict between its Catholic and Protestant populations. These opposing groups in conflict are now often termed republican and loyalist respectively. The most recent example of conflict was known as the Troubles – a civil conflict that raged from around 1969 to 1998

26.
Northern Ireland Assembly Commission
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The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission is the corporate body of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The commission is headed by the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, currently Mitchel McLaughlin MLA, the Northern Ireland Act established a Northern Ireland Assembly. The Act provides for the creation of a Commission to make arrangements for administrative, the Act defines the Presiding Officer as the chairperson of the Commission. Legal proceedings taken for or against the Assembly are taken for or against the Commission on behalf of the Assembly, the Assembly staff assigned to this body now form an enlarged Commission Secretariat. The Commission has responsibility for the pay and pensions of members directly and through tax-payer funded appointees. The first ever Act of the Assembly was to do with members pensions and was taken through its Assembly stages with very little ado by a member of the Commission, the members of the commission are party appointees who receive a substantial premium over and above the basic MLA salary. This body also has an interest in the provision of property, staff and services to support Assembly members, Parliament Buildings, the Commission consists of the Speaker along with five other Assembly members. Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body National Assembly for Wales Commission Assembly Commission at niassembly. gov. uk Office of the Speaker at niassembly. gov. uk

27.
Northern Ireland Act 2006
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The Northern Ireland Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It made provision in connection with the Northern Ireland Assembly, Northern Ireland Act Halsburys Statutes, The Northern Ireland Act 2006, as amended from the National Archives. The Northern Ireland Act 2006, as originally enacted from the National Archives, explanatory notes to the Northern Ireland Act 2006

28.
St Andrews Agreement
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The St Andrews Agreement was an agreement between the British and Irish governments and Northern Irelands political parties in relation to the devolution of power in the region. The governments plan envisaged the devolution of policing and justice powers within two years from the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive, the parties were given until 10 November 2006 to respond to the draft agreement. The first and deputy first minister would be appointed on 24 November 2006, there was a target date of 26 March 2007 for a new executive to be up and running, after a general election on 7 March 2007. The Northern Ireland Act 2006, which implemented the agreement, received Royal Assent on 22 November 2006, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain called the agreement an astonishing breakthrough on BBC Radio Five Live. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that if the set by the two governments were not met, the plan falters and there will be a move to plan B with no more discussions. Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley said, Unionists can have confidence that its interests are being advanced and he also said, Delivering on the pivotal issue of policing and the rule of law starts now. Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said that the plans needed to be consulted on, ulster Unionist Party leader Reg Empey described the agreement as the Belfast Agreement for slow learners. Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Mark Durkan said welcome progress had made towards restoring the power sharing institutions. Alliance Party leader David Ford said the outcome was a mix of challenges and opportunities, the Joint Statement of 13 October stated that the governments had asked parties, having consulted their members, to confirm their acceptance by 10 November. Although neither statement constituted acceptance of the agreement, both maintained that there was sufficient endorsement from all parties to continue the process. The Joint Statement stated that the Assembly will meet to nominate the First, in the days preceding the Assembly meeting the two governments said that it would be sufficient for the parties to indicate who their nominations for First and Deputy First Minister would be. Gerry Adams nominated Martin McGuinness for the post of Deputy First Minister, both governments maintained that this was sufficient indication for the process to continue. Or if this does not happen within the St Andrews time frame, the DUP gave a cautious welcome to the move, but without making any overt commitment on the devolution of policing and justice by May 2008. On 30 January, the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach confirmed that Assembly elections would go ahead as planned on 7 March, in the Assembly elections, the DUP and Sinn Féin both gained seats, thus consolidating their position as the two largest parties in the Assembly. Peter Hain signed the order to restore the institutions on 25 March, warning that if the parties failed to reach agreement by midnight the following day, the agreement was welcomed by Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern. On 27 March emergency legislation was introduced into the British Parliament to facilitate the six-week delay, the Northern Ireland Bill was passed without a vote in both the Commons and the Lords and received Royal Assent, as the Northern Ireland Act 2007, the same evening. The Assembly met on 8 May 2007 and elected Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness as First Minister and it also ratified the ten ministers as nominated by their parties. On 12 May the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle agreed to take up three places on the Policing Board, and nominated three MLAs to take them and this shows we are set for a new course

29.
William Hay, Baron Hay of Ballyore
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William Hay, Baron Hay of Ballyore is a Northern Irish politician. He was the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 8 May 2007 to 13 October 2014 and he attended Faughan Valley High School, Drumahoe, County Londonderry. Hay was elected to Londonderry City Council in Northern Ireland in 1981 for the Democratic Unionist Party and he served as Mayor in 1993 and Deputy Mayor in 1992. In 1996 he was a candidate in the Northern Ireland Forum election in Foyle. But was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998 and he is a member of the Northern Ireland Housing Council and the Londonderry Port and Harbour Commission. And in 2001 became a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, Hay was elected Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 May 2007 following the restoration of devolution. He also is a prominent member of the Orange Order and Apprentice Boys of Derry and he is an Irish citizen with an Irish passport to avoid having to pay an £860 UK naturalisation fee required for people, such as him, born in the Republic of Ireland after 1946. On 6 October 2014, Hay announced his retirement from the Northern Ireland Assembly as both MLA and Speaker, the role of the Speaker had been taken on by Mitchel McLaughlin in a temporary capacity in September 2014 because of Hays ill health. However, in a letter read to the Assembly, he announced his retirement from the Assembly effective from 13 October 2014 in order to concentrate on returning to good health. In August 2014, it was announced that he would get a peerage to sit in the House of Lords and he opted to sit there as a crossbencher. Hay was ennobled on 16 December 2014, later than usual for a peerage to be gazetted and he subsequently sat as a DUP member. Londonderry Democratic Unionist Party NI Assembly – Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly DUP party website profile

30.
Democratic Unionist Party
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The Democratic Unionist Party is the largest unionist political party in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and now led by Arlene Foster, it is the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, however, this influence reduced somewhat under the Robinson leadership in an attempt to reach out to non-Protestants, particularly socially conservative Catholics. Following on from the St Andrews Agreement in October 2006, the DUP agreed with the Irish republican party Sinn Féin to enter into power-sharing devolved government in Northern Ireland, in the aftermath of the agreement there were reports of divisions within the DUP. Many of its members, including Members of Parliament Nigel Dodds, David Simpson. All the partys MPs fully signed up to the manifesto for the 2007 Assembly elections and they founded the Traditional Unionist Voice in December 2007. The DUP is the largest party in Northern Ireland, holding eight seats at Westminster and 28 seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and it has one seat in the European Parliament, where its MEP, Diane Dodds, sits as a Non-Inscrit. Although the party is active in Northern Ireland politics, from 2004–05 it had one representative from the English constituency of Basingstoke. The party was established in 1971 by Ian Paisley and Desmond Boal, since its foundation it has won seats at local council, Northern Ireland, UK and European level. The DUP were more Ulster loyalist than the Ulster Unionist Party, and its establishment arguably stemmed from insecurities of the Ulster Protestant working class. Paisley was elected one of Northern Irelands three European Parliament members at the first elections in 1979 and retained that seat in every European election until 2004. In 2004 Paisley was replaced as the DUP MEP by Jim Allister, the DUP also holds seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, and has been elected to each of the Northern Ireland conventions and assemblies set up since the partys creation. It has long been the rival to the other major unionist party. The DUPs main opponent is Sinn Féin and its rival for votes is the Ulster Unionist Party. The DUP was originally involved in the negotiations under former United States Senator George J, the DUP opposed the Agreement in the Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement referendum, in which the Agreement was approved with 71. 1% of the electorate in favour. The opposition was based on a number of reasons, including, during the 2003 Assembly Election, the DUP argued for a fair deal that could command the support of both unionists and nationalists. After the results of election the DUP argued that support was no longer present within unionism for the Good Friday Agreement. They then went on to publish their proposals for devolution in Ireland entitled Devolution Now and these proposals have been refined and re-stated in further policy documents including Moving on and Facing Reality. The DUP holds the view that any party which is linked to a terrorist organisation should not be eligible to hold Government office, the DUP fought the resulting election to the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly and took two seats in the multi-party power-sharing executive

31.
Foyle (Assembly constituency)
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Foyle is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996, since 1998, it has elected members to the current Assembly. For Assembly elections prior to 1996, the constituency was part of the Londonderry constituency. Since 1997, it has shared boundaries with the Foyle UK Parliament constituency, for further details of the history and boundaries of the constituency, see Foyle. Note, The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, for details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election. Successful candidates are shown in bold

32.
Francie Molloy
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Francie Molloy is a Sinn Féin politician who has been the abstentionist Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster since 2013. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Mid Ulster from 1998 to 2013 and he first stood for Sinn Féin in Fermanagh and South Tyrone in the 1982 Assembly Elections, finishing sixth in the five-seat constituency. He was then elected to Dungannon council in 1985 representing the Torrent electoral area and he retired from the council in 1989 but was re-elected in 1993, and has been a councillor since then. Molloy stood unsuccessfully for Sinn Féin in the European election,1994, Molloy was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996 representing Mid-Ulster and then for the same constituency to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998,2003 and 2007. The by election took place on 7 March 2013, the IRA had taken responsibility for it on the basis he was an RUC reservist. Molloy denied the allegations at the time, and challenged anyone to repeat them outside of Parliament so he could take legal action, UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said he had been unaware of the speech and that it had played no part in Luttons selection. Lutton denied the claims were behind his decision to stand, in the aftermath of the British vote to launch air strikes in Syria against Islamic State he caused controversy by stating, Brits back to what they do best, Murder. He and Sinn Féin refused to apologise, Profile from Sinn Féin website Profile from Northern Ireland Assembly website

33.
Father of the House
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Father of the House is a term that has by tradition been unofficially bestowed on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the term refers to the oldest member, the term Mother of the House or Mother of Parliament is also found, although the usage varies between countries. It is used simply as the alternative to Father of the House. The Father of the House is a title that is by tradition bestowed on the member of the House of Commons who has the longest unbroken service. If two or more members have the length of current uninterrupted service, then whoever was sworn in earliest. In the House of Commons, the only conventional leadership required of the Father of the House is to preside over the election of a new Speaker whenever that office becomes vacant. The relevant Standing Order does not refer to this member by the title of Father of the House, the current Father of the House of Commons is Kenneth Clarke, Conservative MP for Rushcliffe, who began his continuous service at the 1970 general election. Dennis Skinner, Labour MP for Bolsover, also began service at the 1970 general election. Should Clarkes service conclude before Skinners, Skinner would be next in line to serve as Father of the House, however Skinner has stated he would refuse. Michael Foot was the remaining member from the 1945 election between 1987 and 1992, but was never Father of the House because he had been out of Parliament between 1955 and a 1960 by-election. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was simultaneously Father of the House and Prime Minister from May 1907 until shortly before his death in April 1908. The current Father of the House of Lords is Lord Carrington, after the House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, Carrington was given a life peerage to enable him to continue to sit. Should Carrington cease to be a Member of the House of Lords, Lord Denham who sat first on 13 December 1949 and he is a hereditary peer who was elected to remain in the House under the provisions of the 1999 Act. The senior sitting life peer by date of creation is Baroness Masham of Ilton, the Parliament of Northern Ireland, including the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, was prorogued in 1972 and abolished completely in 1973 leaving the title of Father of the House defunct. In Australia, the current member of the House of Representatives with the longest period of continuous service, similarly, the current member of the Senate with the longest period of continuous service is known as Father of the Senate. The longer serving of the two Fathers is called Father of the Parliament, as in Britain, these terms have no official status. Where two or more members have equal length of service, more than any other members. Some state parliaments, however, follow the British convention of giving precedence by order of swearing into office, the Father of the House and the Father of the Senate in Australia have no parliamentary role at all

34.
Cross-community vote
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A cross-community vote or cross-community support is a form of voting used in the Northern Ireland Assembly according to the provisions of the 1998 Belfast Agreement. It requires the support of both communities in Northern Ireland, in other words majority of unionists and the majority of nationalist members of the Assembly. It is also used to an extent at local government level. Upon taking their seats members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are required to designate themselves as either unionist, nationalist or other. MLAs are free to designate themselves as they see fit, the requirement being that no member may change his or her designation more than once during an Assembly session. A vote will not automatically require cross-community support, a Petition of Concern must first be presented to the Speaker by at least 30 of the 90 members. In a cross-community vote the majority of unionists and the majority of nationalist votes are required to pass a motion put to the Assembly and this was originally set out in the Northern Ireland Act 1998. According to the orders of the Assembly, after the signing of the Roll a Member may enter in the Roll a designation of identity. A Member who does not register a designation of identity shall be deemed to be designated Other for the purposes of these Standing Orders, note, These figures include the assumed designation of the Speaker who, having a non-partisan role, does not officially declare a designation. List of current and previous assembly parties by designation, consociationalism Demography and politics of Northern Ireland Official website The Nature of the British-Irish Agreement by Brendan O´Leary Northern Ireland Act 1998

35.
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
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The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Irelands fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly, founded in 1970 from the New Ulster Movement, the Alliance Party originally represented moderate and non-sectarian unionism. However, over time, particularly in the 1990s, it moved towards neutrality on the Union, Naomi Long was the first MP from the Alliance Party since Stratton Mills, who joined the party from the Ulster Unionist Party in 1973. However, the DUP regained the seat at the 2015 general election following a pact with the UUP. The Alliance Party is a member of the Liberal International, and has links with the Liberal Democrats in Great Britain. It was formed in April 1970 as an alternative to the established parties and it also placed great emphasis on the consent principle and therefore its support for Northern Irelands position within the UK was conditional on a majority wanting this. The party was boosted in 1972 when three Members of the Parliament of Northern Ireland joined the party, Stratton Mills, an Ulster Unionist/Conservative member of the Westminster Parliament for North Belfast also joined, providing Alliance with its only House of Commons representation until 2010. Its first electoral challenge was the District Council elections of May 1973 when they managed to win a respectable 13. 6% of the votes cast, in the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly which followed the next month the party polled 9. 2% and won eight seats. The then party leader, Oliver Napier and his deputy Bob Cooper became part of the short-lived power-sharing executive body, Alliances vote peaked in the 1977 local elections when it obtained 14. 4% of the vote and had 74 Councillors elected. Alliance was seriously damaged by the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike, which deeply polarised Northern Ireland politics, and led to the emergence of Sinn Féin as a serious political force. New leader, John Alderdice, polled 32. 0% of the vote in East Belfast, in 1988, in Alliances keynote post-Anglo Irish Agreement document, Governing with Consent, Alderdice called for a devolved power-sharing government. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Alliances vote stabilised at between 7% and 10%, Alliance polled poorly in the 1996 elections for the Northern Ireland Forum, and the 1998 election for the Northern Ireland Assembly winning around 6. 5% of the vote each time. This did enable the party to win six seats in the Assembly, John Alderdice resigned as party leader in 1998 to take up the post of the Assemblys Presiding Officer. He was replaced by Seán Neeson, who resigned as party leader in September 2001. Neeson was replaced by David Ford, a member of the Assembly for South Antrim and it was predicted that Alliance would suffer electorally as a new centrist challenger established itself in Northern Irish politics, the Northern Ireland Womens Coalition. In the 2003 Assembly elections, Alliance held all their seats, Alliances vote fell to just 3. 7%. In the early years of the process, the centre ground was relentlessly squeezed in Northern Ireland politics. In the 5 May 2005 United Kingdom general election, they contested 12 seats, in the simultaneous elections to Northern Irelands local authorities, they polled 5. 0% of first preference votes and had 30 Councillors elected, a gain of two seats relative to the previous elections

36.
Belfast East (Assembly constituency)
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Belfast East is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly,1973, members were then elected from the constituency to the 1975 Constitutional Convention, the 1982 Assembly, the 1996 Forum and then to the current Assembly from 1998. For further details of the history and boundaries of the constituency, note, The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, successful candidates are shown in bold. Craig stood as Vanguard, although the party itself had been disbanded four years before

37.
North Down (Assembly constituency)
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North Down is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly,1973, members were then elected from the constituency to the 1975 Constitutional Convention, the 1982 Assembly, the 1996 Forum and then to the current Assembly from 1998. For further details of the history and boundaries of the constituency, note, The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, successful candidates are shown in bold

38.
Mitchel McLaughlin
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John Mitchel McLaughlin is the former General Secretary of Sinn Féin who also served as an MLA and was once the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. McLaughlin was born in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland and educated at Long Tower Boys School, Derry and Christian Brothers Technical College and he was elected a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Foyle in the 1998 assembly election and re-elected in 2003. In March 2007, McLaughlin transferred to the South Antrim constituency where he topped the poll during the 2007 Assembly election and he was re-elected at the 2011 Assembly election. The party chairman came in for criticism in 2005 when he said the kidnapping and he is married and has three sons

The campaign car of Joseph McGuinness, who won the 1917 South Longford by-election whilst imprisoned. He was one of the first Sinn Féin members to be elected. In 1921 he sided with Collins in the Treaty debate.